New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-04-28
PICTURES BY MR. TEDDER.

Several examples of Mr.. Elhu Vedder's recent work
in oil have placed upon exhibition In the
gallery of Messrs. Wunderlich Co. Mr.. Vedder has
painted some his Rubaiya SUBJECTS and be also ex-
hbits heads of Samson and Dellah and a few land
scapes the last notably No. IA, supplying the really
pictorial features nt the collection The artists figure
work Is anything but painter like and 1t cannot be
said that much has been gained by enlarSing such
Rubaiyat studies the doletul Last Man." the Cup
of Death and Cup OF Love-" and treating them in
oil
These pictures show the strong literary bent, tbs
mannerism and the adoption Of motifs and details
with q cosmopolitan and often confusing catholicty
which have characterized nuch OF Dr. Vedders work.
This work has Distinct value embodyinx .
htrui and serious attitude toward art, but as
some has aptiy said Mr.. Vedder rather thinker
who paints than o painter who thinks. His Last
Man" with the Accomplishments OF skus serpents and
corpse takes back to the absurdly literal alle-
gories of early American art but 1t 10 his of
expression which is mDortant than his intellect
u purpose here since the subjects temiiiar Most
of TIE figure paintings, noticeAbly Love Ever
Present and the Cup of Love- are entirely unintcr
eating IN point et color and sometimes crude in
these two examples They thin In quality, want
ing depth, dry and hard, AID almost suggestive Of
impasto work. The drawing Is remarkable neither
tor accuracy force Mr. vedders habit Of depend
ing upon thu Imagination Of the observer to help OUT
the picture seems likely to fail him In his three heads.
Tho Soul between Doubt aud Faith" Facial express
sion alone is poor reAnc tor painter and the taco
of the Soul here is simply pettish while tho whole
picture needs explanatory text On the other hand.
the little view Of windswept salt marshes conveys tho
feeling of the wildly and with sympathetic
OF color the large landscape Peruga, has interest
due truth Of tact and also to the lighting, there
good moonlight effect In the modest study No. TO- and
there Is vivid bit Of sunlight In really cheerful
study. The "Samson" which appeared In black aud
white some years sace, suggesting head upon an
early ton struck ut Larissa IN Thessaiy, has been
given q masculine appearance In the painting.
and will be found the strongest OF the heads Tho
drawings made aecoupanimens to the Rubaiyat are
also exhibited for the third fourth time In this CITY,
Opinions concerning these drawings have doubtless
become somewhat mellowed by time and tho extreme
euoqss from whose often incoherent expressions the
artist has suffered, may be able to take
view of his work. Mr. vedder has been before tho
public for 60 many years that this exhibition cannot DO
said to shed any new light upon his purposes or
methods By his faithful admirers the changes have
been runs upon the originality imaginative force and
subtlety of lis drawings and paintings, and his SYM
bolism has been described In terns as eulogIstc 40
could possibly be applied to that truly individual poet
and artist William Blake Impartial observers have
long since recognized that Mr. vsdder has earned
distinct place IN art ana that he has done much
which has been strong without grotesquepess express
sve Within the limitations of pictorial art and neither
depressing and ponderous nor involved IN manner OF
treatment But tho unusual the allegorcal Is not
necessarily art and the erar, painter may be a.
extremist the most materiastic tech
nlcan.